Wax-thread sewing machine or other machine employing wax or like heating devices



Oct. 8, 1929. F. RICKS 1,731,109]

WAX THREAD SEWING MACHINE OR OTHER MACHINE EMPLOYING WAX OR LIKE HEATING DEVICES Filed 0012.29. 1925 Patented Oct. 8, 1929 UNITED STATES PATENT QFFI QE FRED RICKS, OF LEICESTER, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR TO UNITED SHOE MACHINERY COR- PORATION, OF PATERSGN', NEW JERSEY, A CQRPOBATION OF NEW JERSEY WAX THREAD SEWING MACHINE OR OTHER MACHINE EMPLOYING WAX OR LIKE HEATING DEVICES Application filed Gctober 29, 1925, Serial No. 65,593, and in Great Britain December 18, 1924.

This invention concerns wax thread sew ing' machines or other machines (such as heel finishing machines) employing wax (or like) heating devices and .is more particularly concerned with that type of such machines in which not only is wax or the like (hereinafter referred to wax) heated in a container but in which also an operating]; instrumentality (such as a shuttle, looper, take-up or thread tension or a wax-applying roll ot a heel linishing machine) is heated and it is to this type that reference is made hereinafter by the phrase a machine of the type specified.

'In sewing machines employin a wax thread the latter usually passed through a receptacle containing melted wax to im 'ireghate it with wax before it is incorporated in the seam. The wax receptacle or pot. even when forming part of the machine, is usually located at a point remote from the working point of the machine and in order to keep the waxed thread in proper condition until it reaches the work machines of this class are as a rule provided with a heating system arranged to heat the parts of the machine a djacent to and engaged by the thread as it passes towards the working point.

For instance, in curvcd-hook-ncedle war-:- thread sewing machines the thread is laid in the hook of the needle by a looper which carries the thread about the needle, and it is 'desir-able that this looper should be heated to prevent the chillin of the wax thread as it passes from the take-up thou g'h the eye or" the looper on its way to the work. It is also desirable that the take-up and the thread tension devices whi ch are usual in such machines should be heated, and it has been customary to heat these parts by means of pipes carrying steam and located adjacent to the parts so that the latter shall be adeqliately heated. It being necessary also to get the wax in the waxpot in. a melted state it has been customary to pass the pipe carrying the steam through the waxpot, or the waxpot jacket if there be such, on its way to the said parts.

The use of steam has been found to be fairly satisfactory where there is normally in the factory a supply, but where this is not available and it has to be generated at the machine the cost is somewhat high. As it is desirable to work with it at about pounds pressure per square inch, such generation involves a. somewhat expensive generator and in. order to keep the capital cost of this generator as low as possible it has been usual to make it comparatively small, with the result that it is necessary that the machine be shut down two or three times a day to supply water to make up for normal loss. It is pro posed to use oil as the heating medium instead of steam, since it is not necessary to heat oil under pressure and consequently no expensive generator is necessary, and oil has the further advantage that it can be heated to a much hi ghcr tcm 'ierature than water or even than steam at suitable pressure. Another ad vantage of oil is that it circulates better than steam under certain conditions.

An illustrative embodiment of the inven tion will now be described in detail and purelyby way of example as applied to a curved hook needle inseam sewing machine of the type described in the patent to Eppler No. 1,108,560, dated August 25, 1914, reference being made to the accompanying drawing which is a diagram indicating a method of applying the invention to such a machine.

The machine is provided (as is the machine described in detail in the aforementioned patent) with a curved hook' needle, an awl, a thread arm, a looper, a take-up mechanism,

and a thread tensioning device, all of which parts have substantially the same construction, arrangement and mode of operation as the corresponding parts of the machine iliustratod in the said patent.

Located near the base of the machine is a rotary pump 1 driven by means of a belt (if desired through reduction gearing) from a small pulley connected to the usual fast pullcy of the machine so that whenever the factory shafting is running the pump will be in operation. From the delivery end of the pump a pipe 3 is carried upwards to a heater 5 having a chimney 6 where it is coiled as much as is necessaryto provide for the proper heating of the oil that it carries. It then passes upwards to a heating element indicated t 7 for the thread tensioning device Which it grade of oil being used, since a thick oil reeats in the usual manner, thereafter passing quires a larger pipe than a thin oil if the cirt i it elements at locations adjacent to culation is to be started With ease. It should the looper indicated at 9 and the take-up indibe pointed out too that to facilitate the ther- :t l to heat these. Th pipe next passes mosiphonic action bends in the piping are areservoir 13 (preferably of glass preferably reduced to a minimum and as 1 e1 of the oil therein can be read much of the piping as possible is disposed in ocated about the highest point of rectilinear vertical lengths; in the illustra e and from the reservoir a pipe 15 tive construction this has been done notably r ==ds through the wanpot 17, the so in the case of those lengths respectively 7 formin the heating element for rising from the heater and descending ot, and thence back to the inlet of the through the Wax back to the pump and l 1 heater.

Adjacent to the reservoir ther is a by-pass The invention having been described What 21 between the pipes 3 and 15 provided with a is claimed is: cock 23 so that if desired the oil may pass di- 1. Heating apparatus for machines of the re 'tly from the ipflow pipe 3 to the downflow ty; e specified comprising a pipe system havpe 15 without passing through the resering an instrunicntality heating element and voir. flier-e is a second by-pass 31 so an awaxpot heating element, liquid in the pipes, g ranged that the oil that has flowed down a heater for the liquid, and waxpot heating 8 through the Waxpot 17 may pass direct to the lie-ans in addition to said wairpot heating eleheater 5 without passing through the pump 1, inent. there being an automatically operating valve 2. Heating apparatus for machines of the 33 (for example a ball valve) in this by-pass ty 3e specified comprising a pipe system hav- 25 31 so arranged that the delivery from the ing an instrumentality heating element and 99 Lump when the latter in operation must a waxpot heating element, liquid in the pipes,

33138 up through th heater and cannot Jess and a heater for the li uid arran ed to su )1 Y i a l a i. 1 e a baci'wards and uprn rds through the down heat to the naxpot in addition to that supi iOW pipe 15. It will be observed hat the oil plied by the ivaxpot heating element.

0 with which the piping system is supplied will 0. Heating apparatus for machines of the 9 pass first to the machine instrumentalities, type specified comprising a pipe system havvshich being heated indirectly are easily ing an instrumentality heating element and cooled, and thereafter to the waxpot so that L Waspot heating element, liquid in the pip-es the War; is heated by thpartially cooled oil nd a heater for the liquid provided with a n' a -rang m t b in f id abl ad, chimney to direct fumes i'rom the heater 100 vantage since war if overheated is liable to g s a portion Of the WaXpOt. deterioration. In testimony whereof I have signed my the pa 1 ally cooled oil passing through name to this specification.

i the wazzpot may not at all times be sui'iiciently FRED HICKS.

a: hot to heat the Wax to the desired temperature 2 .3 g or:

the chimney 6 of the heater 5 is offset so as to direct the fumes from the heater against a portion of the warp-at 17, the top of the chi1nney 6 and the adjacent side of the wazrpot being preferably so shaped that the heat vill be conserved as much as possible. To pr vide for varying the amount of heat delivered to the vrazipot by the chimney the latter is mounted for rotation upon the heater so that 5; it can be turned to direct the fumes either directly on to the waxpot, partially on to the wazipot or completely away from the Waxpot. The axis the oil carrying pipe 3 passing from the chimney 6 is arranged to coincide 53 With the az-zis of rotation of the chimney so that the pipe passes upwards through one side of the chimney Without interfering in any Way with the rotation thereof.

The spot has been described as being (:5 heated by the pipe 15 but it is to be understood 12 that such heating may be effected either directly by the oil piping or indirectly thereby, as for example through the medium of a Water jacket. t is to be noted that the size of the oil-carrying pipe should be suitable for the i 

